President's Message

Three Months and Counting

Work progresses on the three focal issues on which I concentrated
my presidency: UPL, access to justice, and the influence of money on
judicial elections.

by Thomas J. Basting
Sr.

Seems like only yesterday that I was standing on the stage at the
Midwest Airlines
Center in Milwaukee conversing with an actor made up to look like
Clarence Darrow. A few
minutes later, Chief Justice Abrahamson and I were exchanging comments
about the pronunciation
of my name and I was looking out at my family and friends and several
hundred lawyers
and judges and getting ready to address them about what I hoped to
accomplish as president
of the State Bar of Wisconsin.

That was last May. The days and months have passed quickly. It
will soon be May
again, and Diane Diel will stand where I stood (except it will be in
Madison), take the oath
of office, and tell us what she hopes to accomplish during her term as
president.

Yesterday, as I was walking home from the U.W. Law School, where
I participated on
a panel discussing the influence of money on judicial elections and its
threat to a
fair, impartial, and independent judiciary, I thought about this past
year and whether or not
I really accomplished anything.

I traveled to meetings of the National Conference of Bar
Presidents in San
Francisco and Los Angeles where I met dedicated bar leaders from all
over the country, gave
countless speeches, attended dinner meetings and luncheons all over the
state, and hosted
a conference of Midwestern bar leaders in South Carolina. But, did I
accomplish anything? Some may disagree, but I think I did.

I started the year concentrating on three issues: the
unauthorized practice of
law (UPL), access to justice, and the formation of a Wisconsin Judicial
Campaign
Integrity Committee. The Wisconsin Supreme Court considered the UPL
petition in an open
administrative conference on March 14. We have squarely placed the issue
before the court, and
now it is up to the court to tell the Bar whether it will define the
practice of law
and devise a procedure to keep consumers from being harmed by the
unauthorized practice
of law.

A petition to the court to create a commission as recommended by
the Access to
Justice Study Committee is being prepared, and I hope it will be filed
before my term ends.
(I did learn that the Board of Governors moves slowly.)

Finally, the Wisconsin Judicial Campaign Integrity Committee has been
formed,
has operated throughout this judicial election cycle, and has received
accolades from
many sources (and criticism from others). More about that in my next
column.